innovations and evolution

 evolution of the piano 

     chose the piano because this is the first of three instruments I have played and is by far my favorite. 

I will be talking about how the piano started out to be and how much it has evolved into now a days piano. 

The piano was invented in the 1700s when it originated out of Italy and was made by a man named Bartolomeo Cristofori. This man took pieces of other instruments and how they played and critiqued it to make a piano. The instruments that the piano originated from were the dulcimer, clavichord, and harpsichord.  (all shown below in order) 

The name of the first piano was the gravicembalo col piano e forte, or “harpsichord that played loud and soft. The name was finally changed to pianoforte or fortepiano, then to what it's just called now, which is the Piano. 

Later on, in 1836, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg completed his first forte piano in his kitchen and spent his life working on pianos. 1850 came around and Heinrich moved to the united states to pursue his passion and make the perfect piano. Steinweg family had given two pianos to the white house one in 1903 and then another one in 1938. 

The Steinwig family had also parachuted around 2,500 pianos into World War Two called the victory vertical pianos that stood upright and were more durable to play in harsh conditions.

Victory verticals

Here is a video to listen to the oldest piano from the 1700s and a guy talking. Over it is about who made it and the idea behind it, the oldest piano. As you can hear in this video, there are some notes that you can't play simultaneously due to how the piano is made and how all the strings pulling on the keys are attached to some of the same notes. For example, F, F sharp, and G cannot be played simultaneously due to the design. 

Here is a video of one of my favorite songs on the piano and hopefully a favorite to most, Fur Elise . This song is by Beethoven. While listening to this song on the piano compared to a song on the older piano, you can hear the difference in the strings and vibrations played through the notes. The newer pianos play more smoothly and can play multiple notes simultaneously.

This is a picture of a modern piano compared to one of the oldest pianos. The modern-day pianos are much smaller and more compact but can also play more notes simultaneously and smoothly as well.

References

“Exploring the History of the Piano.” Musical Instrument Museum, 29 March 2023, https://mim.org/exploring-the-history-of-the-piano/. Accessed 5 March 2024.

“The origins of the Piano: The Story of the Piano's Invention - Musical Instrument Guide.” Yamaha Corporation, https://www.yamaha.com/en/musical_instrument_guide/piano/structure/. Accessed 5 March 2024.

- Picture resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortepiano#:~:text=Cristofori,-Main%20article%3A%20Bartolomeo&text=A%201720%20fortepiano%20by%20Cristofori,maker%20Bartolomeo%20Cristofori%20in%20Florence.

https://www.yamaha.com/en/tech-design/design/synapses/id_014